Punjab were heading for a victory after Ravneet Ricky, Muneesh Sharma and Gaurav Gupta hit centuries to help the hosts pile up 550 for seven declared on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match against Hyderabad in Mohali on Sunday.

Ricky made 180 and Gaurav Gupta 107 while Muneesh remained unbeaten on 126 to put Punjab firmly in the driver's seat.

Faced with a deficit of 350, Hyderabad, who had scored 200 in their first innings, were trailing by 182 runs with just three second innings wickets in hand at close of play.

I Khaleel (batting 101) and Kaushik Reddy (batting 16) were at the crease when play was called off due to bad light with eight overs remaining to be bowled.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 392 for four, Punjab lost the wickets of Ricky (180, 23 fours), U Kaul (32) and Amit Uniyal (38) after the addition of 155 runs.

With a comfortable lead of 350 runs under their belt, Punjab made the declaration when Muneesh Sharma was batting at 126 with the help of 14 hits to the fence and Gagandeep Singh was on the crease with eight.

Hyderabad batsmen failed to take off in the face of the bowling attack of H Sandhu (3 for 50), Gagandeep Singh (2 for 45) and L Ablash (2 for 33).

Reeling at 66 for six at one stage, the visitors were rescued by Khaleel who hit 15 fours and brought some respectability to the Hyderabad total.

- Ranji Trophy 2005-06: Complete coverage

Scorecard

Punjab 1st innings
RS Ricky c Shinde b Singh 180
S Sohal c Khaleel b Absolem 1
D Mongia c Khaleel b Singh 6
P Dharmani lbw b Singh 12
G Gupta lbw b Singh 107
Muneesh Sharma not out 126
U Kaul c Pai b Ojha 32
A Uniyal c Khaleel b Kaushik Reddy 38
Gagandeep Singh not out 8
Extras (b 12, lb 15, w 2, nb 11) 40
Total (7 wickets dec, 159 overs) 550

DNB: H Sandhu, L Ablash.

FoW: 1-4, 2-17, 3-31, 4-244, 5-419, 6-479, 7-535.

Bowling
Singh 34-8-108-4 (4nb)
Absolem 34-4-129-1 (4nb, 1w)
Kaushik Reddy 40-10-96-1
Manohar 5-0-17-0
Ojha 31-3-114-1 (3nb)
Shinde 15-3-59-0 (1w)

Hyderabad 2nd innings
DS Manohar lbw b Sandhu 9
Abhinav Kumar lbw b Gagandeep Singh 0
Anirudh Singh c Dharmani b Gagandeep Singh 1
AS Yadav b Sandhu 0
SA Pai b Ablash 11
I Khaleel not out 101
A Shinde b Ablash 0
A Absolem c Ricky b Sandhu 19
Kaushik Reddy not out 16
Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 5, nb 1) 11
Total (7 wickets, 42 overs) 168

To Bat: NP Singh, P Ojha.

FoW: 1-5, 2-9, 3-10, 4-11, 5-64, 6-66, 7-108.

Bowling
Gagandeep Singh 12-0-45-2
Sandhu 12-3-50-3
Ablash 8-1-33-2
Uniyal 9-0-34-0 (1w)
Mongia 1-0-1-0 (1nb)